Outta the way: Front rower Lance Sutton makes ground for the Raiders in a game against Stawell.
By John Van Klaveren
MATT Stevens is trying to sell ice to Eskimos and coal to Newcastle – or at least the local equivalent.
Matt is the recently appointed coach of Geelong Raiders Rugby League Football Club.
That’s right, rugby, in an AFL heartland where Aussie Rules, er, rules.
At least Matt is under no illusions about the difficulty of promoting rugby to all the Jimmy Bartel, Tom Hawkins and Joel Selwood fans around the region.
In fact, he cleverly used the rugby incursion as the hook to gain some coverage of his predicament.
“I was hoping you could give us some exposure and run a story on our plight in the hope sponsors and more guys join us for this coming pre-season,” Matt said.
“I know we live in the most powerful AFL stronghold in the entire world but there are dedicated Geelong and Surf Coast locals who truly want to play rugby league.
“I’m thinking being rugby league and not AFL would in its own right generate a bit of interest.”
Well, Matt, it worked.
Matt said he aimed to enter a team in the “very tough” second division competition of Victorian Rugby League next season.
“For us to do this and be competitive we need sponsors and troops to booster our current core group of players,” he explained.
Matt said the number of players available was crucial to meet VRL eligibility requirements.
“The VRL won’t let us into the second division unless we can show them some decent numbers at the start of the year.
“At the moment we have a core group of 14 players and some of our kids are really good and would become regular open division players with some game time.
“We have a mix of players aged from 16 to 30 plus who simply want to play a different full-contact game.
“We also have a few Queensland and New South Wales ex-pats who, like myself, will always be rugby league knuckleheads but now call Victoria home.
“But we need a minimum of 25 committed to starting the pre-season in order to be competitive.
“We simply hope to let Geelong and the Surf Coast areas know there’s a rugby league team here.”
The club’s home ground is Frier Reserve, Newtown. Phone Matt on 0458 273 544 or club captain Jason on 0400 507 488.
